Bitcoin at 18-month high as ETF approval window opens

Bitcoin rose to an 18-month high as expectations of an approval for exchange traded funds to invest in the largest crypto token intensified.

Bitcoin gained as much as 3.6% to $36,856 on Thursday in Asian hours, the highest level since May 2022. Smaller tokens Ether rose as much as 2.2% while Solana advanced 3.2%. Digital tokens Terra and Luna, sparked a deep rout last year that wiped out $1.5 trillion of the crypto market. 

A brief window of at least eight days opened on Thursday for the US Securities and Exchange Commission to “theoretically issue approval orders,” according to a note by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas. “Even if approvals don’t arrive this month, we still believe there’s a 90% chance of approval by Jan. 10,” they wrote. 

The optimism of the potential approval by the regulator, after more than a decade of deliberation, has bolstered the token more than 120% this year and Caroline Mauron, co-founder of digital-asset derivatives liquidity provider Orbit Markets, sees a “sustained interest in bets on a further Bitcoin rally.” In comparison, global stocks have risen a modest 10% over the same period.

“The ETF expectation is the top of a growing list of catalysts, which gives the current rally further legs,” said Josh Gilbert, market analyst at trading and investing firm eToro. Besides the ETF trigger, bets that the US Federal Reserve is done with rate hikes for now and an upcoming Bitcoin-halving next year are also fueling the rally, Gilbert said.